Monetary Policy Effects onFinancial Intermediation viathe Regulated and theShadow Banking Systems

We extend the monetary DSGE model by Gertler and Karadi (2011) with a non-bank financial intermediary to investigate the impact of monetary policy shocks on aggregate loan supply. We distinguish between bank and non-bank intermediaries based on the liquidity of their credit claims. While banks can endogenously create deposits to fund rm loans, non-banks have to raise deposits on the funding market to function as intermediaries. The funding market is modeled via search and matching by non-banks for available deposits of households. Because deposit creation responds to economy-wide productivity automatically, bank reaction to shocks corresponds to the balance sheet channel. Non-banks are constrained by the available deposits and their behavior is better explained by the lending channel. The two credit channels are affcted differently following a monetary policy shock. As a result of these counteracting effects, an increasing non-bank sector leads to a reduced reaction of aggregate loan supply following a monetary policy shock, which is consistent with the data. An extension to deposit like-issuance by the non-bank sector will allow further studies of re-regulating the non-bank sector

Higher plant metabolism and energetics in hypogravity: Amino acid metabolism in higher plants

Laboratory's investigation into the amino acid metabolism of dwarf marigolds exposed to an environment of simulated hypogravity is summarized. Using both in vivo, and/or in vitro studies, the following effects of hypogravitational stress have been shown: (1) increased proline incorporation into cell wall protein, (2) inhibition of amino acid decarboxylation, (3) decrease in glutamic acid decarboxylase activity; and (4) decrease in the relative amount of a number of soluble amino acids present in deproteinized extracts of marigold leaves. It is concluded from these data there are several rapid, major alterations in amino acid metabolism associated with hypogravitational stress in marigolds. The mechanism(s) and generality of these effects with regard to other species is still unknown

Implications of shadow ban regulation for monetary policy at the zero lower bound

Counter to the credit channel of monetary transmission, monetary policy tightening induces a rise in lending by two different types of non-bank financial institutions (NBFI): shadow banks and investment funds. A monetary DSGE model is able to replicate the empirical facts when augmented with intermediaries that allow for regulatory arbitrage on the one hand, and household portfolio rebalancing on the other. Therefore NBFI reduce the e ectiveness of the bank lending channel, which posits a decrease in bank lending following monetary tightening. Given the pending regulation of the financial system, I study how regulation of the shadow banking sector may affect the monetary transmission mechanism, especially during a zero lower bound (ZLB) episode. I find that bringing shadow banks back onto the balance sheets of commercial banks is beneficial for consumption smoothing. Alternatively, regulating them like investment funds results in a milder recession during, and a quicker escape from, the ZLB. This is because a large demand shock that moves the economy to the ZLB acts in a similar way to a monetary tightening due to the inability to lower the policy rate to the unconstrained level. Consequently, the bank lending channel becomes operational and its effectiveness can be reduced via less reliance on deposit funding

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS OF DEVELOPMENT OF DIALOGICAL PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION MEDICAL STUDENTS

В работе описаны психологические факторы развития диалогической профессиональной коммуникации студентов медиков в процессе профессионального образования, что ранее не рассматривалось в контексте научного направления педагогической психологии. Определена проблема исследования, сформулированы задачи. В результате проведенного анализа научной литературы поставлена и решена проблема изучения структуры и содержания психологических факторов развития диалогической профессиональной коммуникации студентов медиков. В качестве методологического основания диалогичности профессиональной коммуникации выделены психосемантический и личностно-ориентированный подходы. Обоснована система психологических факторов, составляющих диалогическую профессиональную коммуникацию. Описаны психологические факторы диалогической профессиональной коммуникации: субъективно-конструктивный, эмоциональный и мотивационный. В качестве основного механизма развития диалогичности коммуникации обоснован механизм обратной связи в коммуникации, который является источником рефлексии коммуникации.Research was to finding out psychology factors dialogical professional communication of medical students educational is considered in the process of professional education. Identify research problem and formulate research objectives. As a result of analyses of scientific litera-ture formulated and solved the problem of studying psychological factors in the development of dialogical professional communication of medical students. Detected psychosemantic and personal-centered approach as a methodological basis dialogicality professional communication in this study. System of psychological factors was justified as constituting the dialogical professional communication. As the main psychological development mechanism of dialogicity of communication the feedback mechanism in communication which is a communication reflection source is reasonable

Fuzzy Approach for the Formation of an Optimal Portfolio of Strategic Projects to Achieve Regional Development Targets in the Digital Economy

This study was performed as part of an essential task of accumulating and developing regional human capital in the digital economy. In this age of uncertainties, risks, and scarcity of resources, regional leadership faces the task of the optimal allocation of available financial resources among strategic projects that directly or indirectly affect the development of regional human capital. The aim of this study was to develop and test the economic and mathematical method of forming the optimal portfolio of strategic projects to maximize progress towards achieving the target values of key indicators of regional development through the development of human capital using a fuzzy approach. A fuzzy model is proposed, and its objective function is an integrated index that takes into account the degrees of achievement of strategic indicators of the social and economic development of a region. The information base of the study is composed of statistical data from official information resources. The model is a fuzzy mathematical programming problem in which the uncertainty and lack of information are modeled using a fuzzy approach. The variables used for the optimization are the Boolean variables of the inclusion of a project in a particular investment area at a certain point in time in a project portfolio. The transition from a fuzzy optimization problem to a crisp one is performed by setting confidence levels for the objective function and constraints. The choice of a certain confidence level allows, to some extent, one to take into account the uncertainty, which in turn affects the structure of the investment allocation. For the Primorsky Region, an example of the formation of an optimal portfolio of projects is considered by each year of a given planning period, which allows for maximum progress towards achieving the targets of development for the region

Quinolizidine alkaloid biosynthesis in lupins and prospects for grain quality improvement

Quinolizidine alkaloids (QAs) are toxic secondary metabolites found within the genus Lupinus, some species of which are commercially important grain legume crops including Lupinus angustifolius (narrow-leafed lupin, NLL), L. luteus (yellow lupin), L. albus (white lupin), and L. mutabilis (pearl lupin), with NLL grain being the most largely produced of the four species in Australia and worldwide. While QAs offer the plants protection against insect pests, the accumulation of QAs in lupin grain complicates its use for food purposes as QA levels must remain below the industry threshold (0.02%), which is often exceeded. It is not well understood what factors cause grain QA levels to exceed this threshold. Much of the early work on QA biosynthesis began in the 1970– 1980s, with many QA chemical structures well-characterized and lupin cell cultures and enzyme assays employed to identify some biosynthetic enzymes and pathway intermediates. More recently, two genes associated with these enzymes have been characterized, however, the QA biosynthetic pathway remains only partially elucidated. Here, we review the research accomplished thus far concerning QAs in lupin and consider some possibilities for further elucidation and manipulation of the QA pathway in lupin crops, drawing on examples from model alkaloid species. One breeding strategy for lupin is to produce plants with high QAs in vegetative tissues while low in the grain in order to confer insect resistance to plants while keeping grain QA levels within industry regulations. With the knowledge achieved on alkaloid biosynthesis in other plant species in recent years, and the recent development of genomic and transcriptomic resources for NLL, there is considerable scope to facilitate advances in our knowledge of QAs, leading to the production of improved lupin crops. © 2017 Frick, Kamphuis, Siddique, Singh and Foley

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data